A Bouquet For Each of Us
by SilverMoonPhantom
Summary: In which Vlad and Jack stop having a rivalry and enter a proper poly relationship. (Because screw Love Triangles anyway)
1. White Ivy

After the accident, Maddie and Jack visited Vlad in his hospital room any time they were free.

They left flowers, notes for him, the sets of handwriting squeezed next to each other with tiny hearts and smiling ghosts next to 'get well soon!' and 'missing you!'

They had even brought in an extra pillow and thicker blanket from his dorm after he had mumbled about being cold.

In the snatches of waking when he could think clearly past his painkillers, Vlad could tell they were falling in love with each other.

* * *

It wasn't until he woke up one evening, skin still aching, long shadows curling lovingly around the last beams of sunlight that he realized he had made the wrong assumption.

Jack's broad hands were wrapped around his wrist and forearm, carefully avoiding the back of his hand where an IV tube snuck in. The man's forehead was leaning against his hip, bags under his eyes prominent despite being relaxed in sleep.

Maddie's slender fingers were entwined with Vlad's other hand, violet eyes warm and sleepy as she realized he had woken up.

"Good morning" She whispered.

He couldn't comfortably smile through the bandages, but managed to squint happily. Her thumb stroked his palm, and he squeezed slightly back.

Jack snuffled slightly, nuzzling his head deeper into the thin blankets wrinkling against Vlad's side.

"Did you know your hair is white now?"

He tilted his head at Maddie's quiet question, shaking it slightly. He watched his friend with vague interest as she dug through a purse beside the bed, painkillers muddling his normally sharp concentration. He lifted his now-free hand, absentmindedly trying to flatten Jack's sleep-spiked hair. The poor guy looked like he hadn't slept properly in ages.

There was a pang of loss, at the idea of the two of his friends falling in love without him, and the future that could pave outward for the pair. Probably children, a happy marriage.

Maddie offered a compact mirror, and Vlad pulled his hand away from Jack's head, lifting the reflection to eye level and wincing as his eyebrows raised disbelievingly. Like she said, his hair was now stark white.

He looked like an old man.

He lay his hand back in his lap, leaning back and sighing.

"I've been talking with Jack about getting married someday."

He didn't complain as thin fingers laced between his own once more. Despite the small comfort, he could feel his spirit sinking. The doctors had no idea how long he'd be in this room, the last estimate bordering years. His faint hopes of someday asking for Maddie's hand had turned to ash.

"We can't do it - It's not the same without you."

It took a moment, but he shot her a sharp look at the admission. Weren't they perfect together? She shrugged a shoulder, propping her elbows up on his bed.

"He's in love with you, did you know? I don't think he ever wanted to say anything, but it's been gnawing at him." She ran her thumb over his knuckles. "He's barely eating anymore."

The words of denial died in his throat, dark eyes turning back to the man curled up by his side. He could feel a heartbeat echoing his own through the fingertips on his wrist, warm breaths stirring tiny hairs on his arm.

He wondered how he hadn't noticed the faint embroidery outlining his blanket, tiny white coils of Ivy against an off-white background. He remembered Jack complaining about French Knots, and his own playful ribbing at his roommate's hobby. Matching Ivy coiled up the pillow behind his head.

Just like that, any bitterness he had felt was melting away. With a faint sigh, and the quiet fading of sunlight, the final corner snapped into place in their strange triangular relationship.

"Focus on healing, dear. We'll be waiting for you."


	2. Forget-me-Not

No one was really sure what to think about the Ghost Hunting Trio.

There was Jack Fenton - A brilliant technician, Enthusiastic about any new idea that came to him, and a creative spark that made those ideas both frequent and outlandish.

There was Maddie Walker - An expert in chemical reactions, and a master of both multitasking and pinpoint precision.

There was Vlad Masters - Methodological in his work and a brilliant engineer in his own right.

If you were to ask them 'What kind of personal relationship did they have?' the layperson might be a tad confused.

By any means of the term, Jack and Maddie were certainly In Love. The man tended to proclaim his affections loudly any time the redhead did something brilliant, while she showed it less overtly, in small gifts of food and subtle compliments that brightened his day.

Depending on who you asked, Vlad and Maddie must have been the married couple. They bickered occasionally, but held hands and one would call the other on the way to the grocery to see if the house needed more milk or eggs or an extra twenty feet of clear vinyl tubing for their latest experiment.

Some of the neighbors hypothesized they were having some sort of affair, but that couldn't be right, could it? After all, Vlad and Jack were obviously best friends, calling each other silly nicknames and being completely comfortable even when Maddie was around and giving each of them attention. If there was a tryst going on, there would be some sign of stress, right?

Of course, no one really knew about the moments at home, when the three of them would gather together on the couch to watch a movie. Vlad usually tucked himself under Jack's arm, piling the thickest blanket he could find around him.

Maddie would sprawl on Jack's other side, her long legs draped over both her boy's laps, her own thighs supporting a laptop as she diverted attention between the film and whatever report she was writing up.

Fenton would man the remote, teaming up with Masters to make excited (or in Vlad's case, incredulous) comments about the characters' actions.

About halfway through the film, Maddie would close her laptop, pulling her legs out from under their arms and slinking off the couch to burrow into Vlad's blankets. After that, the comments would quiet down, two pairs of blue eyes sneaking peeks and whispered voices placing bets as to when exactly she'd fall asleep.

(Jack usually won those bets. He was better at reading body language)

When the movie ended, one would gather up their female partner and carry her up to their shared room, while the other turned off the lights and made sure none of the blankets ended up on the floor.

There were also no neighbors around to see them in the morning, three sleepy pairs of eyes and two bodies either pressing close or edging away from Vlad's perpetually warm core. (depending on the season)

No one was around to observe them calling across the house for the location of a certain object, or the last sighting of a report. Someone always made sure to fill up the latest vase of cut flowers (forget-me-not's this week) on the kitchen table.

A green-handled brush passed from an auburn head to a silver head, and Vlad's voice saying,

"For the thousandth time, Jack, you may not braid my hair."

"But V-man, it's to practice fine motor control for wires and soldering! You don't want me getting rusty, do you?"

There was definitely no one around when Masters let him do it anyway, with the stipulation that they came out before he left the house.


	3. Goldenrod

Vlad never kept it a secret from his partners that the blast had given him ghostly traits.

They were the first to pull him out from the floor when intangibility started manifesting, and the first to notice that the heat seemed to flare along with his temper.

He changed for the first time on accident, startling at the pale blue color at his fingertips and extremities. He watched as the color started creeping up his arms, heart racing as it ignored any attempts at washing it off, only coloring deeper.

They didn't see his ghost form at first - Vlad was more embarrassed than scared of their reaction, and he didn't exactly know how to bring that sort of thing up in conversation.

A week later, and his ears and teeth were more pointed, and skin pallor a vibrant shade of blue.

When he blinked and green eyes turned into pupil-free red orbs, Vlad had enough of the secrecy.

In their defense, their first reactions were of surprised disbelief. After that, his partners started cataloguing each change as it happened, measuring his ears and taking pictures of his teeth from day-to-day.

They monitored his changes closely, but it left him with a lingering feeling of unease.

When what started out as seemingly natural coloration - or whatever passed as 'natural' in this new form - started shifting his fingertips into wicked black claws, he reached his breaking point.

Despite the fact that he could hover and pass through walls, Vlad still preferred locking himself in the bathroom to flying dramatically away.

Maddie persistently knocked on the door, asking that he come out or "At least turn the heat up, it's been a half hour and there's no steam. You'll get sick."

When Jack came home and found the bathroom locked and Maddie looking miserable in front of it, he had a similar failure in getting Vlad to come out.

With an odd look on his face, he walked right back out the front door.

Vlad spent the evening curled up in the shower, finally turning the water off and just sitting wetly on the tiles. Long black hair stuck to his strange skin, deadly claws scratching absently at the grout below

"Vlad?"

He heard Jack's voice through the bathroom door, and didn't answer.

"Will you come out?"

Vlad sunk down lower, uncaring of the slight shivers slithering through his bones.

He heard the doorknob rattle, turning his head away just as he heard the 'click' of its flimsy lock jiggling loose.

"Vlad? I, uh, I'm coming in."

Socks padded across the tiles, toilet seat creaking as the other man sat down on its lid.

Jack didn't ask what was wrong, but the smaller man raised his hand anyway, keeping his eyes averted as it was cradled and pulled open. He already knew how the hard ridges would look, there was no point in burning Jack's horrified face into his memory as well.

"Pretty monstrous, huh?"

The hand tightened around his wrist, before releasing and letting Vlad drop his hand back down to the tiles.

"C'mon, Vladdie. Up and at 'em."

Masters sighed, tucking his feet under him and pushing himself upright, accepting the fluffy towel draped over his shoulders. Eyes still pinned on the ground, he followed obediently as the man led them to their shared bedroom.

He glanced blankly at the plastic bags atop their comforter, expression shifting toward confused when Jack started pulling lengths of chain and what was clearly jewelry from them.

He allowed thick bangles to slide up his arms, chains draped around his neck and over his hair. It all shined brightly gold, too yellow to be the genuine thing, but so bright that it created a sharp contrast against his skin. A glint caught his eye, the mirror above his dresser reflecting an odd sort of creature. His gut twisted, and he looked away from it.

"What is all this?"

Jack took his hand, and Vlad felt his heart skip a beat despite himself as a thick golden ring slid over the sharp ridges of a black claw. It was followed up by two more rings, and a few bracelets that hung loosely around his wrist.

"You should get like, a ton of piercings."

"What?!"

Jack nodded to himself, tilting his head at the reflection with a faraway look.

"A couple ear piercings, and a nipple, definitely."

"Why would I do something like that?!" He folded his arms protectively around his chest.

Jack turned, placing a hand atop his damp head to adjust one of the chains.

"Aesthetic."

(Also, you have a higher pain tolerance in this body and you should take advantage of it. I bet black tattoos would look sick as heck against blue!)

Vlad raised a hand to his lips, sharp teeth glancing off yellow metal as he failed to smother the building laughter.

Finally, it burst out and the two of them were laughing their asses off on the floor, cheap chains and clearance-rack earrings sprawling out of plastic bags and onto the carpet.

He did end up getting his cartilage pierced a week later, but staunchly refused any other body peircings.

Jack did get one of his nipples done, just to one-up his partner, and spent the week whining about it and shifting uncomfortably in his shirts.

He immediately switched to bragging when Maddie got a little white ghost charm.

Somehow neither of them were surprised at the man's antics.

Vlad started wearing gloves in his ghost form, and slowly learned how to keep his clothes on when changing - even alter outfits in time.

No matter what style of cloak or boot or high collar his ghost form wore, there was always a golden ear cuff, nestled snugly on one of his pointed ears.


End file.
